Kurt Barnard Cost Quotations

Sears is on the way back to health. They're doing a good job (of cost cutting) and they are offering customers a good, recognizable value and customers are responding.

You just can't compare the impact of a large number of sales of flashlights, which may cost $2 to $4, with lost sales, for example, of hundreds of pairs of shoes, each costing $50 to $200.

What Sept. 11 has done to the economy is to accelerate, hasten and deepen the decline, but the decline existed before. The attack gave it the extra push in terms of retail sales. If you don't have a paycheck coming in, it doesn't matter how much cost of gasoline has gone down.

It seems to be that a lot of these large chains are gravitating toward the advantages inherent in joint buying and obtaining lower prices and saving a lot of money in the process, ... ...It is very likely to be a powerful weapon in the retailer's arsenal to reduce the cost of buying and operating. And given the world of the Internet, which makes possible these alliances, it has to be recognized that consumers will find it so much easier these days to compare prices because all they have to do is click away.

Everybody is worried about a soft landing for the economy and a contraction of consumer spending. And come Christmas it will be far less exciting than a year ago. The high cost at the gas pump is beginning to take its toll and for a lot of families spending an extra $20-to-$25 a month on gasoline means spending that much less on stores.